ARCHITECTURE

The premise of this project is exploring decolonisation and the post-independence sphere in former British colonies in light of the strategies that the colonial powers employed specifically the privatisation of land. This project therefore seeks to be an exercise of imagining the future of post colonial life specifically in Thyolo, Malawi. In this area there are tea estates that were established during colonial times and were part of the white settler economy that resulted from the production of tea and other commodities. Today, the estates, private land, surround the main town of Thyolo. The design intervention explores the relationship between the edge of the estates and the town of which a road known as the 'M2' serves as a border. The idea of weaving became a central motif that guided this project. This was drawn from the baskets that are used to harvest tea that are made of wicker. Moreover, this motif was important because it also connected with the wicker that is used in cylindrical grain stores that are commonplace in many villages in Malawi. The point of this project was not only to challenge the effects of colonisation, but to do so in a contextually relevant manner. The idea of ‘weaving’ takes place at the scale of the entire park as its geometry is intended to mimic weaving and then at the scale of materials where shades and panels are intended to be made out of wicker. This is to engage local materials as well, allowing for the people that are living there to play a part in the construction of a place that is for them.